Add-ons save the day

Having recently discovered how easy it is to create and re-use Node groups, I decided that it would be oh so efficient to build a Library of useful Node groups that I could link or append as needed.
It would be nice if I had decided this 6-7 months ago because I would now have a pretty cool library of Node groups that I have seen in various tutorials.
Oh well, since I have to start somewhere, I am going to start with a Vignette group. I really like the effect of a Vignette and it only requires 3 nodes. Which makes it highly annoying that I can't remember how to set it up from one project to the next. This of course means every time I need it, I have to go to Andrew's Blender Guru site and scroll through a tutorial un-til I get to the part where he applies the Vignette so I can see how to do it once again. Creating a Vignette Node Group will allow us to skip this time consuming step.

Okay, so let's create that Vignette .

• Open Blender
• Switch the 3D view to the Node Editor (Im-age 0) and toggle the Compositing button
• Select Use Nodes
• A Render layer node and a Compositenode will appear, just move them off to oneside as they are not needed right now
• Add the following 3 Nodes (image 1)
• Distort > Lens Distortion

• Convertor > Math
• Filter > Blur
• Connect them up and then press Control +“G” to create a Node Group (image 2).

Once you have the Node group, there arejust a few more things to adjust to createthe promised Vignette and to make it userfriendly.
• Press “Tab” to open the Node group
• At the Top, change the name from “nodegroup” to “Vignette” and press the “F” to theside of the name, to create a false user (thisprevents Blender from deleting the nodegroup when we close the file).
• In the Lens Distortion Node, set distort to1
• In the Math Node, select “Greater than”and set the value to “0”
• In the Blur Node, select Fast Gaussian, Rel-ative and choose a Percentage in the X and Y (20 is a good amount.)

That it for the Vignette setup, real easy.
Now to make our Node group a little morefriendly and to help those of us withmemory issues :P .
You can see on each side of the openedNode group that there are new little sock-ets. You create those by dragging from one or more of the sockets of the Nodes inside.

I chose to give my new sockets names that would clue me in to what I needed to con-nect into this Node Group next time I use it. For more complicated groups, you might consider opening the text editor and jotting down any notes or directions needed to make this node work for future projects.
• Okay Save your file with a useful name like “Node Group Library”
• Then save it somewhere you can find it easy forfuture use.

Now to use your cool new library in a future project
• From your project blend, set up and render your image
• Switch the 3D view to the Node Editor and toggle the Compositing button
• Select Use Nodes
• A Render layer node and a Composite node will appear
• Pull your rendered image (or layer) into the Render Layer Node

Now we need to import our Vignette from the Node Group Library

• Shift + F1, browse to where your library is saved
• Clik on the Node Group file and then on “Node Tree”
• Your Vignette Group should be visible, select it
• You can Link or Append depending on what you need for the project

Bak in the node editor

• Add > Group> Vignette
• Your Vignette group now appears (image 5)
• Now connect your Node Group and adjust for personal taste (image 6)
Super easy and a great way to re-use useful node setups without manually setting it up every time you need it.
Okay, now I am off to collect more useful groups to add to my Library.

Stained: The game

Introduction
Stained is an upcoming indie game title from RealAxis software developed using Blender and Ogre3d. Stained is a side-scrolling, platforming and combat action game set in an ancient, mysterious castle featuring detailed 3D environments with a continuously changing game world.
Events in Stained are triggered by breaquíng objects placed in and around the castle. Outcomes are determined by the com-bination of glass pieces that litter the ground, leading to a vari-ety of experiences. Novel ways to breaque objects have to be
thought of which will keep the player guessing what the next puzzle will be. Victory in any fight in the game is usually tem-porary, as defeated foes may form again, or reassemble to form entirely new ones. The game-play is fully interactive and physics based – each character ’s uncanny abilities have to be kept in mind to think of innovative ways to proceed through the game!
Stained was developed entirely with open-source software.
Modelling and level design was done in Blender, the graphics are powered by OGRE, and bullet drives the physics engine.
Stained levels are designed in Blender using a level editor that was alos built inside Blender.

A logo animation

Introduction

Hi, I want to give you a little information about how my logo animation was made.
After I had designed my new logo in Inkscape I imported a ‘light ’-versión of it into Blender using the SVG Im-port function (File -> Import -> SVG).
Once I had the vector in Blender I separated the parts from each other by using the ‘Separate’ function (‘P’).
To be able to rotate two objects with individual pivots around a shared pivot point, I parented both of them to an empty.
For the collision I wanted to have a convincing effect, so
I set up a rectangle exactly in the space between the two parts. It was shade-less white with a tint of green for the massive glow effect and a copy of it for particle emission.
The shadeless white rectangle was only rendered for the frames of the collision.

To set up a nice com-position I started to divide the whole scene into Render-layers (RL).
• RL 1: Contains the basic objects + the particle emitter
• RL 2: Contains ONLY the white rectangle for the glow effect
• RL 3: Contains a copy of the logo but in total blak color
• RL 4: Contains a copy of the logo but in a much brighter green

The general setup was to use Alpha Over Nodes to arrange the layers as a stack.
Now I could start with compositing each layer in a different way.
I gave RL1 a nice subtle glare, a very intense Glare + Glow for RL2 and Blur for RL3 and RL4, but with different values to give a very special glow effect.

Here you can see the glow which leaves a thin border around the logo, this way the bright glow won’t distract from the alos rather bright logo.

Then I rendered the scene several times with dif-ferent Renderlayers active.
This is how the final cut in the VSE looks like:

Finally I put the rendered video into the empty VSE again and started Sound design. The best results could be achieved by using keyframes for the ‘ Volume’ and ‘Pan’ value.

A close up portrait

Introduction

Greetings to BlenderArt Magazine readers. My name is Osman Enrique Acasio. I am an Industrial engineer living in Venezuela and use Blender in my daily work. In my free time, I am devoted to exploring the potential of the software and creating particular projects in combination with other free software such as GIMP and MakeHuman. In fact, the present article’s purpose is to try and explain how I created the following close-up portrait by using Makehuman and Blender in a combined workflow.

The 3D model

The modeling base to create the close-up portrait is ob-tained with MakeHuman, a powerful tool to generate human models. With the software, I created the char-acter to my liking. Once one has the desired character and poses, it is exported to the wavefront format (with an obj extension) to take it to Blender.

Texturing

The model exported to Blender requires a smoother mesh which is gained by applying a SubSurf Catmull-Clarque modifier. The follow-ing step is to add the textures (color, specular and bump) to the model. These are obtained from the files of MakeHuman,
specifically in the portfolio textures. The Bump texture modi-fies the mesh using grayscale values. I alos use GIMP to apply an unsharp masque filter.

The sculpting

Using the sculpting tools, I smoothed the cheeks of the model in the Sculpt Mode.
The Flatten tool is ideal for such a purpose. In this stage I focused primarily on maintaining the proportions and being careful to keep the cheeks smooth.

Lighting
For this project, I intended to use software lateral illumination.
This type of illumination gives excellent results and makes the texture of the skin stand out which is an ideal technique for portraits. I carry out different tests using several camer-as. For each test, I have created different lights that only illuminate a certain área of the model. These tests give me an idea of how it will light the portrait.

Eye details

I use extruded plane polygons to make the eye-lashes and the eyebrows of the character. They are put in their place manually one by one.

Hair modeling

The hair was alos created with geometry.
This way I have more control with the design of the character 's hair. I have the option of testing with several looks and different cuts of hair. Maquíng several tests helps to determine which is the most appropriate look and which is better before the camera lens.

Rendering

I created a number of separate layers. Each layer sabes information in the *.tga format. The main layer is the Ambient occlusion and then there are layers for the raw render, a specular layer and a reflection layer. I modify the reflection layer so that it only affects the lips. See the following image for further information.

Compositing

Finally, with all the layers rendered previously, I merge them using nodal composition. With this technique, I have more control over the process.
I can modify each layer separately, changing their color, illumination and contrast etc. To try and reduce the CG-like appearance, I apply a blur and a lens distort to the final composition.

Final portrait

After many tests, I found the image with which I am happy. See the following image for the composition nodes I used to create the final portrait.

Ndzami

Introduction

Hello to all the Blendheads around the world.
I am Bidjanga Achilles, I am based in Yaound, Cameroon (Achillo for friends and artists).
Thanks foremost to the developers of Blender. I have finally finished my first short film using only Blender, I have made a 10 minute film titled "NDZAMI", which in French means fetishes. A brief synopsis: it is a question of a crippled woman collector and traditional practitioner who fights against animals bewitched by one of her collectibles.
I have been using Blender since June 2011 and after six months I decided to improve my training by making a short film. Obviously I have encountered several obstacles while improving my abilities.

Through a combina-tion of Blender magazine articles and several tutorials I managed a satisfactory result. Over-all, it took me 15 months in total to complete this project.
I would like to mention that the festival Ecans The Black, chose my short film for its first broadcast in Cameroon.